JELENA-DOKIC.com
April 12, 2004
JELENA CORNER
by Todd Spiker
Well, everyone turned the crank on the box with
optimistic thoughts in their minds last week, hoping
against hope that the Fair One would pop her head
out with great force and make the tennis world jump
back in surprise and admiration.
You know the Jelena-in-the-Box music, don't you?
Hum it with me...
Doop-doop-do, do-do-doop-doop-doop,
do-do-doop-doop-do-do,
doop-doop-do-do-do-doop-doop-doop...
DOOP-doop-doop-do-doop
...but Jelena didn't pop out her head like a
Jack-in-the-Box in Amelia Island. Actually, with
another barage of unforced errors and double faults,
she gave a somewhat rightful rise to the belief that
she might need as much time on a sports
psychologist's couch as she does on the court.
After blowing a 4-2 1st set lead, and a 5-3
advantage in the 2nd (with a set point) versus Amy
Frazier, she twice lost four consecutive games to
drop both sets as well as the match 4-6/5-7.
So, after yet another headshaking result to start
the 2Q, I'm sure you're as tired of reading the same
Corner as I am of writing it. Thus, we'll
experiment with something a little different this
week by introducing a segment entitled, for lack of
a better name, "classic" Corner, if you will.
I figure this'll be a brief respite from the
monotony, and maybe it can even provide a hint of
"cosmic inspiration" directly from Jelena's more
glorious past.
I now take you back to a time before little girls
cried, weepy boys wailed, and Jeleniacs cringed when
they looked at the day's latest scores. I take you
back to... San Diego 2002. Without further ado, I
present "The Best of Jelena":
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Click here to go back in time:)
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**JELENA 2004 RANKING**
Jan.1-Feb.1........#15
Feb.2-8............#17
Feb.9-15...........#15
Feb.16-22..........#14
Feb.23-Mar.8.......#15
Mar.9-Apr.4........#16
Apr.5-present......#18
**THEN &...SINCE THEN**
[THEN: Zurich to Tokyo]
............THEN/SINCE
W/L..........9-3...2-6
3-setters....6-1...1-3
down a set...3-3...1-4
up a set.....6-0...1-2
TB/extended..4-2...2-2
QF+..........3/3...0/6
SF+..........2/3...0/6
Yes, things seemed so rosy back in San Diego, and
such great things appeared to be on the horizon for
Jelena. Looks were deceiving.
They say it's always darkest before the dawn, but
in this case things proved the brightest before the
blackout. Fact is, a week later in L.A. came the SF
match that Chanda Rubin dubbed the "semi-tank."
After that, well, you know all about the scattershot
results coming off the Fair One's racket since
then. After a brief bubble up of good results to
end '03 and start '04 (see above), the previous
routine seems to have resumed once again.
What I said about the adage that it's always
darkest before the dawn? Well, the light is getting
a bit dim outside right about now... and the coming
of anything resembling a "dawn" would be greatly
appreciated. Can someone do something about that?
(Maybe Gerhard knows someone he can call?)
Think about it. Wouldn't it be nice to see some
new pictures of the Fair One smiling? THAT would be
a "dawn" to remember.
Meanwhile, back in the real world, EuroJelena IS
just two weeks away. So, hope surely DOES spring
eternal... doesn't it?
CHARLESTON, SOUTH
CAROLINA (USA)
Family Circle Cup
Tier I; Green Clay
#12 seed; 1r vs. qualifier
...hmmm, when does EuroJelena begin anyway?
Just kidding. Well, a little. Looking at the
draw, an awful lot has to change this week for
Jelena to be long for Charleston. She plays a
qualifier in the 1st Round, which could be a good
thing. But, remember, whoever it is will be coming
off 2-3 qualifying victories and going against a
Fair One with very few matches of late. That
combination is a little scary on its surface.
Also, once again, Great Mandula's Ghost has set
up shop right next to Jelena in the draw. She could
fall into the Fair One's path in the 2nd Round
(after a 1st Rounder vs. the struggling and injured
Ashley Harkleroad). If Jelena's on top of her game
and survives, Jennifer Capriati would likely be
waiting in the 3rd.
If it happens, maybe that's where Jelena can draw
on the inspiration from her one career victory over
Capriati in San Diego that I talked about earlier.
She has it in her to make history repeat itself.
Whether or not she has it in her THIS WEEK, though,
might be another matter.
